I've been looking at the winner list here in PA as well....a LOT of data to comb through.

When I was pulling this data last year, I standardized all of the PDF files PA posted, scraped it out and put it into a Database.

In order to make that winners list, the person must have won over $1000 in a single game.

Once I got all of that data organized (which wasn't easy- either the person who creates the reports is totally incompetent OR they intentionally screw with the reports to make it difficult to scrape out & standardize). Any way, after I got all of the data out, a buddy of mine helped me run some queries on the winner names & city locations & the number of times they won over the 4 years I had the data four.

The information was astounding:

The most frequent winner had won over 40+ times and claimed over $250K in winnings.

There were MANY winners (0ver 100) who had won more than 10 times. This means these 100+ people have won more than $10,000 in instant games over a four year period.

So, I can definitely verify that there are distribution patterns just based on the top winner / frequent winner lists as you stated above.

My questions are:

Are these people following a strategy?

Are they cheating?

Do they know about your "_mark" theory?

Or are they just blowing a crap load of money playing the odds and losing a lot more than the $10,000 plus that they've won over the 4 years?

With regards to the distribution of the winning tickets, my challenge is "seeing' the patterns graphically....Are you using any mapping tools to apply the city to in order to see your the distribution patterns?

Anyway, I thought I'd share a scratcher ticket theory thats worked well for me here in PA.

Go to the "winners circle" link on your state lottery website.

Click on Instant Game Winners.

Therein you will see an actual list of the winners, their home town, and sometimes the name

of the store that sold the winning tickets.

After going over the list you may determine a distribution pattern for certain games in certain areas.

For example, in the PA. "$1000 a Week For Life" game you see that most winners are from towns

along the PA turnpike and I-79 (not all but most).

For whatever reason the boys at lottery headquarters never change the distribution pattern of

this game and most of the jackpot winners come from those traffic lanes.

You can see other dist. patterns in other games as well.

Also, the biggest winning tickets seem to be at the end of the roll.

I mean the last five or six tickets on the roll have usually brought me luck.

I dunno why they just have.

Another tip is to look for a four color registration mark of _ at the bottom of the ticket.

Not a + mark (as many have) but a _ mark along the bottom edge at left.

This is a good indication that the ticket is a winner of some sort.

It could be $2, $5, $40, or higher - maybe even the jackpot.

I recently stopped for gas at local station whereupon I noticed a game that was at the end of the roll.

About six tickets were left at $2.00 apiece.

I asked the clerk to pull them out so I could look them over.

The last two had that _ mark at the bottom.

As they can't break them up I had to take all six to get the two I wanted (cost $12.00).

Of those last two one hit for $500 and the other $1000!

Not a bad return on the $12.00 I put out.

I hope that helps everyone interested in scratcher games.

Best to all and Happy Winning!!

I've been trying to see what four color registration _mark you're referring to @ the bottom of the ticket. Evidently it's something obviuos that I'm overlooking. Have you noticed it on any other games lately?

Great information, but I have a question. Which end of the roll 000, the beginning?

yes....000 is supposed to be the beginning but I've seen some retailers start with the end of the roll 1st. On the last ticket there will be a small black box next to the number that endicate the end of the roll.

I think he means where the tickets are perforated between the tickets I think you can also find it on the back bottom of the ticket also. Sometimes it is a black line and other times it is in color, like Ohio had a $5 Sapphire 7 green ticket and the lines were green. After talking to people it seems the lines are spaced evenly throughout the book, the line looks like L sometimes or sometimes __ it is in the very corner of tickets at bottom. Don't know what they mean or why they are there but they are not on every ticket. I had had some winners with these tickets but more losers than winners so I really don't know that it means much? They come spaced out like maybe every 7 tickets or so. Anyone else know what these lines mean? They also are not on every kind of ticket. I have never seen them on Bingo or Cashword.

I think he means where the tickets are perforated between the tickets I think you can also find it on the back bottom of the ticket also. Sometimes it is a black line and other times it is in color, like Ohio had a $5 Sapphire 7 green ticket and the lines were green. After talking to people it seems the lines are spaced evenly throughout the book, the line looks like L sometimes or sometimes __ it is in the very corner of tickets at bottom. Don't know what they mean or why they are there but they are not on every ticket. I had had some winners with these tickets but more losers than winners so I really don't know that it means much? They come spaced out like maybe every 7 tickets or so. Anyone else know what these lines mean? They also are not on every kind of ticket. I have never seen them on Bingo or Cashword.

Gotch"! Thank's grandmadec....I'm now on the lookout. When I run across one I'll let ya'll know how it worked out here in PA.

I'm new. Thanks for the tips, because I play a lot and have never won more than $50. I've won $40 and $50 a few times. I agree that the end of the roll seems to be lucky, particularly #148 on the $2 games. I don't remember winning on the last ticket, #149. On BlackJack, my $40 and $50 winners have come in the #110-#130 range. #131 won $50 just a couple days ago. Have not had much luck with the beginnings of rolls, but have heard tickets #7-#10 can be lucky.Have noticed the numbers #60-80 have quite a few losers. So do the 50s except for the possible sizable winner in that area.

So do the big jackpot prizes also tend to be at the end of the roll? (I mean the biggest prizes - $21,000 on BlackJack, $50,000 on Birthday Cash, $10K/Month for Life on that game, etc.)

I'm new. Thanks for the tips, because I play a lot and have never won more than $50. I've won $40 and $50 a few times. I agree that the end of the roll seems to be lucky, particularly #148 on the $2 games. I don't remember winning on the last ticket, #149. On BlackJack, my $40 and $50 winners have come in the #110-#130 range. #131 won $50 just a couple days ago. Have not had much luck with the beginnings of rolls, but have heard tickets #7-#10 can be lucky.Have noticed the numbers #60-80 have quite a few losers. So do the 50s except for the possible sizable winner in that area.

So do the big jackpot prizes also tend to be at the end of the roll? (I mean the biggest prizes - $21,000 on BlackJack, $50,000 on Birthday Cash, $10K/Month for Life on that game, etc.)

Welcome MattfromPA!

I'm new to the site as well....but the newness wore off after about 24 hours & my first big win!

The LP "family" are wonderful people with a lot of great information and you too will feel right at home in no time.

Good Luck to you!

Great tip about #7-10. I'll pay close attention to that...you may be on to something